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Poetry By Kat Smith: Memories.......

 

Odin had his eyes plucked out

And he allowed them

To  hang him from a tree

All for the gift of memories

 

 

I am not a god or goddess true

my past has brought me to my knees

and many times I begged to be released

from the thorns of  past  cuts

that still have me bleed

 

 

Sometimes it seems

All that remains are weathered dreams

I pray to forget your face

The thoughts of you to be erased

But always you appear to me

As clearly as this hanging tree...

 

About the Author Kat Smith:  I am a professional psychic medium and writer living on Long Island N.Y. with my partner Joe and our two Siberian Huskies. We are both proud parents and grandparents and we enjoy the beauty of the ocean and the Sound surrounding us.

Poetry by Kat Smith: Inward Sail......

 

Inward Sail

 

I bring this to you now

The soft crush of roses

Pressed against your furrowed brow

And the cool jade of polished leaves

Where likenesses perceived

So like you to sense there are two

Things that make the journey worthwhile

 

I bring this to you now

And here I place upon your altar

A token of my high esteem

All dreams within a dream

Are far too fragile to be seen

By one whose eyes are outwardly cast

Go inward sail, unfurl an all-seeing mast

 

Homeward will

I’ll steer you home

And give all to you

What little shall be known

What little lingers still…

                                                   

 

This is a poem dedicated to my Father who passed on September 6, 2010

About the Author Kat Smith:  I am a professional psychic medium and writer living on Long Island N.Y. with my partner Joe and our two Siberian Huskies. We are both proud parents and grandparents and we enjoy the beauty of the ocean and the Sound surrounding us.

Poetry by Kat Smith: The Pose of the Goddess

 

 

Each night I wait in the silk tree garden

Moon a mirror where my tresses are full

And white with the light of dreams spilling freely

I wait for your footfalls

Your dense laughter through the forest surrounding

My sanctuary, my place of remembering

Where prayers are whispers

Woven into the fine gown I am wearing

Wait till the night fades

And my shadow becomes me…

 

About the Author Kat Smith:  I am a professional psychic medium and writer living on Long Island N.Y. with my partner Joe and our two Siberian Huskies. We are both proud parents and grandparents and we enjoy the beauty of the ocean and the Sound surrounding us.

ANNOUNCING THE "WILD WEEDS POETRY CONTEST" RESULTS......

Contest Judge: Annie Finch (www.anniefinch.com)

 

   

 

Annie Finch is the author or editor of fifteen books of poetry, translation, and criticism.  Her books of poetry include Eve, Calendars (just released in a new edition with 40-page downloadable Readers' Companion and Audio CD), The Encyclopedia of Scotland, and Among the Goddesses: An Epic Libretto in Seven Dreams.  Her poetry appears in anthologies, textbooks and journals including Agni, Fulcrum, Kenyon Review, The Norton Anthology of World Poetry, Paris Review, The Penguin Book of the Sonnet, Prairie Schooner, and Yale Review. Her other works include several influential books of poetics, most recently The Body of Poetry and A Poet's Ear, and numerous music, art, theater, and opera collaborations.  Finch's book of poetry Calendars was shortlisted for the Foreword Poetry Book of the Year Award and in 2009 she was awarded the Robert Fitzgerald Award. She holds degrees from Yale University, the University of Houston, and Stanford University, and currently directs the Stonecoast MFA program in creative writing at the University of Southern Maine.

Winner: "New Skin" by Elizabeth Thompson  

(poem is below)

"New Skin" was chosen as the winning poem because of its musical, precise, subtle language, fresh metaphors, and mysterious vision.  It was also the only plantain poem!  I enjoyed all the poems, and was especially charmed, moved, or delighted by those receiving Honorable Mention.  Thanks to everyone who sent poems!   Green Blessings, Annie Finch

Honorable Mentions: 

"Gardener's Reverie" by Domenica Cipolione 

"Blue" by Lisa Valantine

"Red Clover's Promise" by Nita Campbell 

"Daring Dandelions" by Vivienne Whale Grace

"Honeysuckle" by Victoria Green

"The WIld Weeds in My Wee Garden" by Julie Allshouse

 

New Skin

 

Where you find your wounds, you find your healer,

I tell her.  Beneath twined honeysuckle vine, clothesline,

Stop sign, lawn, median, and meadow, we pick palmfuls

Of sinewy, slick leaves, veins trailing like kite tails,

And chew them to a paste to plaster on her dog

Bitten face.

 

In the moonlight of her first owl-owned night,

Her small body glistened like maize, unbroken and bright.

Outside foxes leapt the woodpile, coyotes howled,

Paws pressed in pitch and rabbit-nipped plantain,

And coons found baby Bantams and tore them

Like peaches.

 

When the sun broke the slate of that night, the apple

Blossoms burst towards the new skin of dawn.

She smiles and the dried plantain paste cracks and flakes

Like seaweed revealing crimson flesh.  We renew the poultice.

Finding plantain scattered like petals in the grass, we crush,

Plaster, affirm.    

By:  Elizabeth Thompson